You won't believe this...

So, I decided to get all domestic.  Yep, that's right - give me a (frilly) apron and some applause!  :)

I made laundry detergent. 

We have 7 people in our family.  That means 7 bodies with laundry constantly running.  To operate our home, it takes about 2 loads a day - on a good day.  We're pretty serious about clean undergarments around here.  However, that makes for a lot of laundry, and therefore, a lot of detergent... and it's not getting any cheaper.  So, I'm gonna tell you how I did it, and then I will show you pictures... and then you can try it yourself.  I'm pretty excited about this. 

I usually buy laundry detergent for around $7 - very cheap from walmart.  I get around 100 loads for $7.  That's not horrible (compared to the $25 per 120 loads I used to spend on Tide.)  I still love the smell of Tide, but right now saving funds is more important for our family. 

This wasn't hard at all, and if I did my calculations right, we will have essentially 30 bottles of detergent for the price of 3.  I spent $28 (to have it shipped to my house) and I have already gotten 350 loads of laundry detergent out of it (which is 3 bottles of detergent).  The picture on the right is actually of the bottles I refilled with my homemade concoction.  I have used essentially 1/10 of the boxes of dry stuff... so I have good reason to believe that I will have paid less than $1 per 120 loads of laundry.  That is what I call saving money.  So here is the important stuff - the stuff you need to make it...

1/2 cup Borax  (20 mule team)

1 cup Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda

1 bar of soap (you pick - I got Lever 2000 with aloe)

a 5 gallon bucket

a 4qt. pan

4 cups boiling water

Essentially, you start 4 cups of water boiling in a 4 qt. pan.  Then, grate the soap like cheese (the finer the better - you will be melting it).

 

Once you have grated it, you put a handful at a time in the boiling water and stir.  Wait til that is melted and then add another handful until it is all gone.  You will have a soapy "soup" when it all melts.   

At this point, I turned off the flame and left the pot sitting for a second while I put about 2 gallons of water in the 5 gallon bucket and stirred in the borax and the arm and hammer washing soda.  I did it with hot water because I felt like it would mix better with hot water than cold??  I am happy with the results, so I recommend it.  Then, I added the soapy soup mix to the 5 gallon bucket.  I stirred the whole concoction for about 2 minutes to get it stirred up and added several more gallons of hot water.  I went ahead and "bottled" the soupy mix right away while it was all stirred up good.  I left enough room in each container to shake it before use.  Now, I wait 24 hours to see exactly what level of "slime" it will become.  I have heard sometimes it is slimy, and sometimes it is "lumpy".  It depends on several factors - that I don't care to understand (sorry for those of you who want those details.... google it.)  :)

I will shake my mix each time for the next several days before I use it.  I have also heard that you can create a "powder" mix from the same ingredients by shaving the soap and then leaving it to dry out - and then crushing it to a powder.  Mix it all together and then measure it out - I would have to do the math on this... essentially you would weigh it and divide by 350 to see how many tablespoons of powder to use.  Again, you can google it if you prefer powder.

I just think this is a great idea... and I am super hoping that my clothes smell better than ever.  I WILL let you know!